Nigeria, others achieve 5.1% increase in air passenger traffic

Nigeria and other countries in Africa recorded 5.1 per cent increase in air passenger traffic in April, despite the announcement by the International Air Transport Association that passenger demand growth slowed in the month.

According to a report by IATA, capacity rose by 4.6 per cent, and load factor edged up by 0.4 percentage point to 72.8 per cent.

“African airlines’ had a 5.1 per cent traffic increase in April. The upward demand trend remains strong, helped by continuing signs of improvement in the region’s largest economies – Nigeria and South Africa. This is only the fourth time in the past 41 months that both economies have been on an upward trajectory at the same time,” IATA said.

IATA had announced global passenger traffic data for April 2018 showing that demand rose by 6.2 per cent compared to April 2017, which was down from a 12-month high of 9.7 per cent in March.

The association said that April capacity increased by 5.9 per cent and load factor climbed by 0.2 percentage point to 82.3 per cent, which was a record for the month of April, surpassing last year’s record of 82.1 per cent.

“Demand for air transport continues to be above the long-term trend. However, increases in airline cost inputs, most notably fuel prices, mean that we are unlikely to see increased stimulation from lower fares in 2018, compared to previous years,” the IATA’s Director-General and Chief Executive Officer, Alexandre de Juniac, was quoted to have said.

The association noted that April international passenger demand rose by 4.8 per cent compared to April 2017 while all regions recorded year-over-year traffic increases but all were behind the pace of growth reported in March.

It stated that the total capacity climbed by 4.9 per cent, and load factor slipped by 0.1 percentage points to 81.4 per cent.

On the domestic scene, the association said demand climbed by 8.5 per cent in April compared to April 2017.

This, it noted, was propelled by double-digit annual growth in India and China where capacity increased by 7.6 per cent, and load factor rose by 0.7 percentage point to 84.0 per cent.

“All markets reported demand increases,” the association said.

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